Daniel Day-Lewis Spares 'Lincoln' Blushes With Best Actor BAFTA Win

'Lincoln' may have come into the night as the favourite to sweep the board at the BAFTAs with ten nominations, but only reliable awards collector Daniel Day-Lewis saved Steven Spielberg's film from coming away empty handed by winning Best Actor.

Day-Lewis seems to win the British Academy Awards as reliably as clockwork - winning in 2003 for 'Gangs of New York' and in 2008 for 'There Will Be Blood', once again walking away with the top acting prize for his role as the 16th President of the United States.

Speaking backstage at the cerememony about what enabled him to give his extraordinary performance he said: "In the moment when I decide to go to work I have the illusion that I really have no choice, I suppose, by which time I've tested every escape route, and it's really that feeling of being drawn into the orbit of another life, another world, this particular life of another human being, so it's almost a physical sensation, an impelling need, but I don't know where it comes from."

Daniel Day-Lewis bagged 'Lincoln's' only BAFTA (Photo: WENN)

During his acceptance speech the actor had also joked about his famous method acting, joking that he had stayed in character “as myself for the past 55 years,” in preparation for the awards show.

'Lincoln' lost out to 'Argo' for Best Film, with Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones also losing out in the Supporting Actor and Actress category, while the movie missed out on a number of smaller awards including Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay.

As for Day-Lewis, 'Lincoln's' sole winner on the night he thanked the British Academy, but did call out the audience, saying: “Every time I rise from a chair it spontaneously unleashes a soundtrack of thunderous applause, with a few boos and some drunken hecklers.”